Paleontology

Earth

Greenland crater renewed the debate over an ancient climate mystery

Scientists disagree on what a possible crater found under Greenland’s ice means for the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis.

Oceans

Volcanic eruptions that depleted ocean oxygen may have set off the Great Dying

Massive eruptions from volcanoes spewing greenhouse gases 252 million years ago may have triggered Earth’s biggest mass extinction.

Paleontology

This huge plant eater thrived in the age of dinosaurs — but wasn’t one of them

A newly named plant-eater from the Late Triassic was surprisingly hefty.

Ecosystems

How mammoths competed with other animals and lost

Mammoths, mastodons and other ancient elephants were wiped out at the end of the last ice age by climate change and spear-wielding humans.

Paleontology

‘End of the Megafauna’ examines why so many giant Ice Age animals went extinct

‘End of the Megafauna’ ponders the mystery of what killed off so many of Earth’s big animals over the last 50,000 years.

Paleontology

Eggs evolved color and speckles only once — during the age of dinosaurs

Birds’ colorful eggs were inherited from their nonavian dinosaur ancestors.

Paleontology

The first vertebrates on Earth arose in shallow coastal waters

After appearing about 480 million years ago in coastal waters, the earliest vertebrates stayed in the shallows for another 100 million years.

Paleontology

T. rex pulverized bones with an incredible amount of force

Tyrannosaurus rex’s powerful bite and remarkably strong teeth helped the dinosaur crush bones.

Paleontology

In a first, scientists spot what may be lungs in an ancient bird fossil

Possible traces of lungs preserved with a 120-million-year-old bird fossil could represent a respiratory system similar to that of modern birds.

Earth

These ancient mounds may not be the earliest fossils on Earth after all

A new analysis suggests that tectonics, not microbes, formed cone-shaped structures in 3.7-billion-year-old rock.

Paleontology

Cholesterol traces suggest these mysterious fossils were animals, not fungi

Traces of cholesterol still clinging to a group of enigmatic Ediacaran fossils suggests the weird critters were animals, not fungi or lichen.

Science & Society

Before it burned, Brazil’s National Museum gave much to science

When Brazil’s National Museum went up in flames, so did the hard work of the researchers who work there.